Power conservation continues to be a desire for many IT professionals and facilities managers. For example, the EPA published a report on Aug. 2, 2007, which warned of the rising energy toll for running data centers. One of the main findings of the report is that if current trends continue, energy consumption for U.S. data centers and servers will nearly double by 2011 to more than 100,000,000,000 kW per hour, costing the public and private sectors $7.4 billion annually and requiring an additional 10 power plants.
Data centers employ data storage components, some of which consume large amounts of power annually. Data storage operations commonly rely on networked and other complex systems, where transfers and other operations occur at different places, at different times, and for different needs, all of which consume different levels of power at different times. Hierarchical systems may be used, where various storage components are linked to one another and to the system via a storage management component. Some of the components may provide filtering or control capabilities for lower components in the hierarchy. Systems may then use these storage management components to operate or “oversee” the system and its various components. However, many of the management components are used simply to manage and collect data from the various components. These management components, however, fail to consider power requirements of the various components. Other problems exist too, as those skilled in the art will recognize based on the following Detailed Description.
In the drawings, the same reference numbers and acronyms identify elements or acts with the same or similar functionality for ease of understanding and convenience. To easily identify the discussion of any particular element or act, the most significant digit or digits in a reference number refer to the Figure number in which that element is first introduced (e.g., element 810 is first introduced and discussed with respect to FIG. 8).